No Subject

To: dyb%unc.csnet @ CSNET-RELAY

From: Kent M Pitman <KMP @ MIT-MC>

Date: 12 December 1984 21:37-EST

cc: SCHEME @ MIT-MC

Actually, Common Lisp does specify the order of evaluation as left to right.
It's tricky to find the passages in the CL manual which assure this, but
they are there if you look hard enough. The issue came up recently in the
Common Lisp discussion group and subsided after various obscure but recently
conclusive passages were cited.
Anyway, I agree it is reasonable to leave the order unspecified. It may be
computationally infeasible for the compiler to determine when order of
evaluation matters in many situations where "better code" would be available
if such a determination could be made.